Rajiv assassin Nalini transferred to Vellore jail

Chennai, Sept 7: Nalini Sriharan, one of the key accused in Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, who has spent 20 years in prison, has been shifted to Vellore Jail in Tamil Nadu. Nalini was moved to a Chennai jail last year after she lodged a complained against prison officials over harassment.

Sources said that Nalini was transferred at her request so that she can spend some time with her husband, Murugan, who is lodged in Vellore prison. He is among the three convicts who were meant to be executed on Friday, September 9, 2011 for the murder of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1991. An appeal against the hanging is being considered by the Madras high court.

Murugan and the others have said that the President of India took 11 years to down their mercy petitions, which appealed to change their punishment to life imprisonment.

On Aug 11, 2011, President of India, Pratibha Patil rejected the mercy petition of the three men who were linked to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Inn 1999, the Supreme Court of India had confirmed the death sentences of four convicts; Murugan, Santhan Perarivalan and Nalini. However, Nalini's death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment after an intervention by Sonia Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi's widow and the Chairperson of UPA government. Mrs Gandhi considered the mercy petitions soon after Nalini delivered a baby girl in jail.